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When Worlds Collide 7: Safe Landing Summary: The plane finally makes it to the ground. What
next? Gibbs came to full alert at Harm's words. "What's happened?" Ziva watched Gibbs for a clue of what was happening. Harm said, "Why didn't you tell me your man here was injured?" "DiNozzo was injured? How?" Gibbs asked. Ziva put her hands to her face "So you didn't know either? It looks like he was stabbed. He just passed out. I'll get the flight attendant in here to bandage him up, but we're going to need another medical team to take care of him as well as the captain." "Understood. I'll get on that. Let me know if you need anything else." He cut the connection and saw Ziva watching him. "Damn fool DiNozzo got himself stabbed. That was what he wasn't telling me." He picked up his cell phone and called McGee, instructing him to get another ambulance and medical team to the airport, without giving any specifics. All the while Ziva sat there, biting her thumb. Her eyes had grown dark. "It's my fault." Gibbs stared at her. "How do you get to that?" "I should have been the one on the plane. I've got more experience at hand-to-hand combat. I should have insisted that I-" "Stop it!" He smacked her on the back of the head. "If you remember, I'm the one who gave the assignment to DiNozzo. So if there's anyone to blame, it should be me." "If I'd been on the plane, then Tony wouldn't be-" Ziva wouldn't let it drop. "No, you could have been the one injured. No sense in worrying about things we can't change, Ziva. Let it go." "Right, sir." She sounded unconvinced. On the airplane Harm called in the lead flight attendant and asked her to bring his wife into the cockpit. He had decided it would arouse less suspicion if the flight attendant were available for questions during this early landing and not in the cockpit attending to Tony. "What's wrong, Harm?" Mac asked as she walked in. "My God, what happened?" She hurried over to Tony's side. "He apparently got stabbed by Hassan here," and he gestured to the copilot, still bound and gagged on the floor. "Can you see how bad it is?" She nodded quietly. Carefully she moved Tony to the floor behind the copilot's seat and pulled off the pilot's jacket. She pillowed his head in her lap, then pushed up his shirt to expose the wound. Opening up the first aid kit, she got out some bandages and began applying pressure to slow the bleeding. "I have to say, Harm, you really know how to give a girl thrills." "Well, you can say it's never boring with me, right?" He joked back. "And now, to put on my captain's hat, so to speak." He opened up the intercom to the passenger cabin. "Hello, this is Captain Rabb speaking from the flight deck. One of the flight crew members has gotten ill," and he earned a look from Mac for that white lie, "so we're going to be diverted to Greater Moncton International Airport, so he can receive medical attention. We will be starting our approach shortly and should be on the ground within a half hour. If you have any questions, the flight attendants will be able to answer them, and I do apologize for the inconvenience." "Nice cover story," Mac commented. "No sense in causing a panic. And it's not entirely false. The captain definitely needs medical attention." Just then, Tony groaned and started tossing his head. Mac held him down as he tried to sit up. "Have ... to ... help ... Rabb." "The only thing you're going to be doing right now, DiNozzo, is to stay very still. My husband's got everything under control and we'll be on the ground very soon. And then we can get you to a hospital." "Gibbs ..." and his voice faded out. "What about Gibbs?" Mac asked. "Going ... to ... kill ... me." Harm told him over his shoulder. "Nobody's going to kill anyone. The fact that you ignored your wounds in order to ensure the safety of this plane makes you a hero. Anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to me." "Gibbs ... Marine." "Lucky for you, I married one of them. She'll cover your six. Now lay back and save your energy." "S'all right. I'll ... be ... fine ..." and he drifted off into unconsciousness again. Thirty minutes never dragged by so slowly as when they were waiting for the wheels to touch down on the runway at Greater Moncton. When they landed, the medical teams were waiting, as were Gibbs and Ziva. They got Hassan shoveled into a police car and waited for Tony to be brought out of the airplane. The medical team wheeled the gurney toward an ambulance. Ziva stopped them. The EMT told her, "He should be fine, but he's lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to the hospital right away." She replied, "I won't keep you long." Then she squeezed Tony's hand and said softly "We'll meet you at the hospital. And I'm sorry." Without waiting for an answer, she walked to the waiting police car. Gibbs gently he swatted the back of Tony's head. "That's for not telling me about this." "Didn't ... want ... let ... you ... down ... Boss," Tony whispered. "You haven't. Believe me, you haven't." Gibbs followed Ziva to the car. As they loaded him in the ambulance, Tony smiled and drifted off into unconsciousness. The End. |